Car-starter



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1; J. F. GOODRIDGE 8a A. POPE.

GAR STARTER.

No. 245,623. Patented Aug. 16,1881.

mtnesses: Inventors 2 SheetsSheet 2.

(No Model.)

J. F. GOODRIDGE & A. POPE.

- OAR STARTER.

Patented Aug. 16,1881.

N. PETERS. Phm L! m 1 v r \A sun (on n c tJNITEn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES F. GOODRIDGE AND ALEXANDER POPE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CAR-STARTE R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 245,623, dated August 16, 1881.

Application filed February 7, 1881.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES F. GOODRIDGE and ALEXANDER POPE, both of Bostomin the State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Oar-Starters, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to car-statring mechanism making use of a gear-wheel upon the car-axle, in which the teeth of the said gearwheel are on the side or face thereof, rather than on the periphery, and has especial reference to the varying load of the car. Itisparticularly applicable toacar-startingmechanism patented to us in Letters Patent No. 234,026, the said 'former car-starting mechanism consisting, essentially,ofa gear-wheel upon the caraxle, and a lever pivoted beneath the car-floor by means of a pin and slot, so as to have both a horizontal swinging and a horizontal sliding motion, and provided with a gear-sector upon its shorter arm, th ere being suitable guides and springs for throwing the gear-sector and gearwheel into and out of gear.

As an improvement upon the mechanism patented to us as aforesaid, ourpresentinvention consistsin the em ploymentof long ratchetteeth upon the gearsector and short ratchetteeth upon the inner face of the gear-wheel, as hereinafter more particularly described, this diflerence in the length of the teeth permitting the gear-sector to rise and fall with the carbody as the load varies in weight, and to properly engage with the gear-wheel, whatever may be the weight of the load and so far as our knowledge extends we are the first to provide for the proper and sure engagement with a vertically-faced toothed wheel mounted upon a car-axle of any toothed device controlled by the movements of the draw-bar of thecar, notwithstanding variations in the distance between the oar-body and car-axle, which are due to variations in the weight of the load.

Another improvement upon our said former invention consists in alatch pivoted to the bearing-plate and yielding to the swinging movement of the starting-leverin one direction, but resisting it in the other, to cause the more cerrain engagement of the gear-sector and gearwheel when the car is to be started.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an inverted plan of mechanism embodying our improvements,

(No model.)

including a part of the car-frame. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation oi the same, showing also a section of the car-floor. Fig.3 is an inverted plan of the bearing-plate enlarged to two and one-half times the size represented in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 3 is asection through line 00 m of Fig. Fig. 4t is a longitudinal section of the starting-lever in the position in which it is shown in Fig. 1, but enlarged and not inverted, together with the correspon din g sections of the bearing-plate and car-bottom. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are details, to be hereinafter explained.

A is a car-frame; B, the floor. axle, and D is a car-wheel.

E is the draw-bar having a longitudinalmotion in either direction in boxes F F. A spring, G, coiled around the draw-bar and acting against the box F and collar a, tends to throw the draw-bar back. The draw-bar is furnished withapole-brace, b, and a couplingslot, 0, in the ordinary manner. It has also a hole, 0, to receive a pin,f, which is on the end of a treadle, g, andhas a vertical motion therein, as well as through corresponding holes in thebox F and car-frame.

H is a gear-wheel, keyed to the car-axle and having short ratchet-teeth it upon its inner face, as shown.

I is the bearing-plate secured to the bottom of the car. It has projecting therefrom, and cast in one piece with it, a hub, i, a guide, j, and a stop, lc.

J is the starting-lever, fnlcrumed upon the hub i, and having upon one end a segmentgear provided with deep ratchet-teeth l, as shown more clearly in Figs. 5 and 7, while its other end is hinged to a rod, m,'which connects it with a swinging bar, K, in turn connected by a rod, m, with the draw-bar E. as shown. The hub i passes through aslot,a, in the lever, this method of connection allowing to the lever a sliding as well as a swinging motion.

P is a plate havingaround hole fitting upon the hub i, where it is held below the lever J by means of a washer, 0, and a pin, 12, as shown. The plate P'has two cars, q g, which are connected by spiral springs 'r r with two hooks, s s, inserted in the starting-lever J. This plate has also two flanges, t t, which bear 0 is the caragainst a strengthening-flange, it, around the slot at of the starting-lever. plate P partakes of the swinging motion of the lever, but not of the sliding motion, and the springs tend to draw back the starting-lever till the end of the slot at therein, which is near the segment-gear, presses against the hub t. The starting-lever has apin,p, workingin connection with the guide j and stop in, cast with the bearing-plate, the said guide and stop forming a sweep to control the movement of the starting-lever. The bearing-plate has also pivoted to its upper side, between it and the car-floor, a lever or latch, 10, a projection near the free end of which falls through a slot, 10, in the bearing-plate, cut in the path 1) between the guidej and stop It, forming the sweep, as before stated. This projection is beveled upon one side, as shown, so that the pin 1) may lift the latch and pass freely along the path of the sweep in one direction, bnt in one direction only, sincethe other side of theprojection upon the latch serves as a stop.

The operation is as follows: The driver puts his foot on the treadle g and thus lifts the pin f from the hole 6 in the draw-bar F. This allows the team to pull the draw-bar forward a few inches in the boxes F F, and this motion of the draw-bar is communicated, as is obvious, to the starting-lever J. The projection upon the latch to, resisting the pin 1) on the starting-lever, causes that pin to move along the inner side of the guide j, thereby overcomin g the force of the springs 1'9, and the ratchetteeth t of the gear-sector are consequently made to engage, successively with ratchetteeth It upon the gear-wheel H, thereby starting the car. The car having been started the pull of the team slackens and the spring G throws back the draw-bar until the pin ffalls into the hole 0. The backward movement of the draw-bar is positively communicated to the starting-lever, and the latter is forced back to its starting place, the pin 12 being free to travel on the other side of the guide j, whither it is forced by the springs r r, and passing freely under the latch 10.

Accordingly the,

In practice a rubber washer, R, and a re-enforeement of the floor, B, are placed between the bearing-plate I and the true floor B, and both are properly slotted to admit therequired movements of the latch 10. This construction is shown in Figs. 3 and at, but the parts B and R are omitted in Fig. 2.

It will he observed that the acting faces of the ratchet-teeth lie in radial planes which would meet in the car-axle; but in practice this is immaterial, since "cry short teeth are here used, as above stated. The acting faces of the long teeth upon the gear-sector are perpendieular.

We elaim 1. In a car-starting mechanism embodying a vertically-faced toothed wheel on the caraxle, the combination, with said wheel, of teeth which are made to engage with the gear-wheel by the movements of the draw-bar, and which have long bearing-faces, while the teeth upon said wheel are short, substantially as described, for the purpose specified. I

2. In a car-starting mechanism consisting, essentially, of a gear-wheel upon the car-axle and a horizontally-swinging gear'sector connected with the motive power, short teeth upon the wheel in combination with long teeth upon the sector, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

3. In a ear-starting mechanism, substantially as described, the latch 10 in the sweep, in combination with the starting-lever, to insure the initial movement of the starting-lever in the proper direction.

4. In a car-starting mechanism, substanti ally as described, the latch to, in combination with the starting-lever, and the sweep and springs controlling the lever, for the purpose specified.

JAMES F. GOODRIDGE. ALEXANDER POPE.

Vitnesses:

W. WV. SWAN, H. G. OLMSTED. 

